Home Is Where The Heart Is
by LemonPeaves
Summary: The teenagers at McKinley spend all day together at school but what if they all went home together at night too? Lima Children's Home is home to a very talented group of teenagers... Set in season 1. Rated T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Rating: T**

Quinn! Get out of the bathroom!"

Rachel Berry hammered on the door of the bathroom. Quinn was always in the bathroom when she needed to be in there. They had to be gone in fifteen minutes for school, what the hell was she doing in there!

"Quinn!" The door swung open and a gorgeous, but grumpy, Quinn appeared.

"Jesus Rachel!" she said.

"You've been in there for an hour!" Rachel cried, pushing her out of the way and slamming the bathroom door behind her. Quinn rolled her eyes. She didn't really care, it took time to look this perfect. She pulled down her cheerios outfit a bit and grabbed her jacket and bag from her room. She only had fifteen minutes until she had to set out for school so she decided to skip breakfast and go look for her two best friends instead.

"Yo Santana! Looking hot!" Santana whipped her dark ponytail round to see who was speaking. Eurgh...it was Puckerman.

"Don't I always...what do you want?" she asked him.

"One of the little kids in this dump has nicked my hair gel. Have you got any?" he said.

"Try Finn?"

"Finn? Hair gel? He's not that cool..."

Santana laughed.

"I'll try Mike." Puck said, making his way down the hall.

There was a sudden yell from the room opposite from where Santana was standing. She frowned and rushed into the room. She found two of the little kids fighting.

"Yo! Takes a chill pill yeah!" She yelled. They pulled apart, all the kids where scared of her.

"Sorry Santana." they chouresed.

"Get ready for school, okay." she told them.

"Okay." they mumbled. She shut the door and carried on down the hall. The care home was unusually quiet for a Monday morning. Hey, she wasn't complaining. It was a welcome change! She quickly found Quinn and they grabbed an apple before heading to the curb to wait for the bus.

The school day went by quickly. Some of the teenagers of Lima Children's Home got home before the others did. Tina, Mercedes and Artie walking back together, the school wasn't far and it was a nice night. They got in and Tina and Mercedes immediately collapsed onto one of the big red sofas of the main tv room. Artie sat in his chair next to the sofa and reached for the tv remote. He knew it was pretty pointless switching the tv onto something he really wanted to watch. The troops would be back soon and cartoon network would be on for the rest of the night. He knew, and probably all the rest of the teenagers too, all the cartoons. They had a great knowledge of all the characters and secretly they liked watching the cartoons as well. That was the upside of living and being brought up in a care home. You never really lost your childhood. He flicked the channels but there was nothing on worth watching. Tina sighed, checking her watch. "You may aswell put Scooby Doo on..." she told him. He and Mercedes laughed. He found the channel easily just as the opening credits of Scooby-Doo came on. They sang along to the song and watched ten minutes before all the kids who had just finished primary came in.

"Ah cool! Scooby-Doo!" said one of them as they flooded in. Mercedes pulled herself up before she was drowned by the jumble of kids.

"I think I'll go and help with dinner." she told Artie and Tina. They nodded and mumbled, already engrossed in what the meddling kids were up to this week. She laughed and shook her head. They were such big kids!

The bus stopped round the corner of the care home. The rest of the teenage residents climbed out of it and walked round the little path. Quinn and Finn were holding hands and smiling at each other like 80 year olds in an old beach town. Santana and Brittany were talking to the boys, Mike and Matt, who were like brothers to them. Puck was sulkily following them, guitar swung over his shoulder. Kurt was checking his nails for dirt, wishing he had walked home with the others. The care home's mini van was parked outside, the head carer of the home locking it up. He saw the teenagers coming up the drive and shouted over at them.

"Hey guys! Good day at school?"

"It was okay..." Santana replied.

"I saw a unicorn in the parking lot." Brittany said happily.

"That's...awesome. Go and get cleaned up the lot of you. Dinner is nearly ready." He followed them in and they disappeared into different rooms.

Quinn found Rachel in their room and after telling her dinner would be ready soon, they changed in an icy silence.

After dinner the younger kids of the children's home were sat down in the tv lounge to do their homework. The kids liked having the older kids around, especially at homework time. Artie usually sat with them to help and sometimes Puck would too. Tonight was no different, Artie was helping 7-year old Harry with his sums. Puck was also helping tonight, his attention on 6-year old Lottie. With the 6 kids all doing their homework this left the teenagers enjoying the rare silence. It was only half past seven but they were all getting their school things ready for the morning.

Rachel and Quinn, who shared a room, were sitting in silence. They were used to the silences. Since they had started high school they had grown apart. Quinn had become a popular cheerleader and Rachel had...well...she was still Rachel. Though, after the couple of slushies she gets a day, she was probably cleaner. Their beds were separated by an oak set of drawers. When they were little they used to find this parting useful. They'd build tents with sheets and sleep on the floor. When they had got a bit older though they had found it annoying. At the ages of 10, all they had wanted to do was gossip and that was hard to do when you were across the room from each other. So they had spent 2 years alternating on which bed they would sleep in each night.

Nowadays though, there was a bitterness towards each other. They hardly spoke and when they did the words stung. They had both changed when they had started high school. Quinn became popular and was soon forced to pick on Rachel, her best friend. She hatred it and would always hate herself for doing it. She would tell Rachel she was sorry and Rachel did understand, only for a while though. One day, Rachel had been given a particularly bad slushie. She had come home and finally snapped. There was a screaming match and their friendship had, there and then, ended. Sometimes Quinn would wish she could talk to Rachel, who she trusted with all her secrets, but she knew she had been the one who had ruined their friendship. Right now, she really had something she wanted to tell someone, she needed to tell someone. She supposed she could talk to Santana but she would probably just come out with some sarcastic comment. She sighed and threw the magazine that she was trying to read down. She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She could sense Rachel looking over at her but she didn't turn to return the look. After a while though the tiny singer hadn't looked away, Quinn sighed again.

"What Rachel?" she said.

"Nothing." Rachel replied. There was a silence. "Are you okay?"

"What do you care?" Quinn said, she had tried to sound threatening but she basically had sighed it.

"I do care." came the reply.

Quinn did look at her this time. "What?" she asked.

"It's hard to stop caring for someone when you were best friends with them for 6 years." Rachel said.

Tears pricked in Quinn's eyes and as she sat up the tears formed and ran down her cheeks freely. Rachel frowned. Quinn never cried, ever, she got sad, yes, but she didn't cry.

"Quinn?" she sat up properly, facing the blonde. "What's wrong? Tell me."

Quinn bit her lip. She really needed to talk to somebody and she felt like Rachel was the only one she could trust.

"Rachel...you need to promise that you won't tell anybody what I'm about to tell you." she all but whispered.

"Quinn...tell me." Rachel said, she was starting to get worried.

"I think I'm pregnant."

Rachel's jaw dropped. Quinn looked at her for a reaction.

"Say something..?"

"Well...at least you don't have parents..."

Quinn frowned. "What?" she said.

"Attempt at humour...I'm sorry." Rachel smiled weakly. Quinn smiled weakly too. "Have you taken a test?" Rachel asked.

"No...I wanted to go to the doctor but I was to scared to go on my own." Quinn told her.

Rachel nodded. "I can go with you if you want." she said.

"Really?"

"Yes."

More tears fell as a wave of grief swept over her.

"Thank you Rachel."

"Is it Finn's?" Rachel suddenly asked.

Quinn looked at her hands which were wrung together in her lap. She knew she had to tell Rachel now, she wanted to tell her too. She felt she needed to be honest towards the girl.

"No..." she whispered.

"Then who...?"

"Puck..."

Quinn burst into tears, sobbing hard into her hands. Rachel leapt off her bed and on to Quinn's. She wrapped her arms around her and began to rock her gently like she'd seen people do in the movies. They stayed like this until Quinn felt as if she had no tears left.

"It'll be okay. We'll just do it a bit at a time." Rachel assured her.

"We?" Quinn asked, biting her lip.

"Yes, I'll always be here for you, always." she told her.

Quinn smiled, then looked at the green digital click on the bed side table. It was nearly 9.00.

"Get some sleep." Rachel told her.

They got undressed and into their pyjamas. Rachel turned to get into bed when Quinn suddenly stopped her.

"Do you want to...sleep in my bed?" she asked.

The brunette nodded and smiled. They climbed into the small bed and huddled together for the first time in many years. They fell asleep instantly and slept until the alarm buzzed the next morning telling them it was morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Rating: This chapter is only a K **

Santana Lopez lifted her arms and grinned widely. It was Thursday afternoon which meant it was Cheerios practice. The pyramid was still for a minute before it started to shake slightly. She looked up from her position near to the top to see Quinn's leg shake . She prayed Coach Sylvester wouldn't see this fault and make them do it again. The twenty girls held their breaths...waiting for the coach to say something.

"Do it again! I don't care if you melt like snowmen in this heat, you will get it right!"

They sighed in unison, all wishing they could wear less...if that was even possible.

Santana got into her starting position, feeling the hot sun on her neck, she looked over to head cheerleader Quinn. The blonde had been acting strangely over the last few days. She had asked what was up but she had just mumbled something about feeling under the weather. She frowned, Quinn noticed this and bit her lip looking away from her.

"From the top people!" yelled the coach through her megaphone.

They started their routine but this time Santana watched Quinn. The girl seemed to be going careful for some reason.

"Santana! Eyes front! Q! Put something in it will you! You look like an empty tea cup!"

Quinn caught her eye again and frowned knowing that she had been watching her. Santana snapped her eyes to the front. There was definitely something wrong and she was determined to find out what...

The phone rang in the care worker's office. It rang for 4 beats then hung up. It went straight to voice mail. A woman's voice started talking, a tinny sound through the little silver speakers.

"hello, it's Alison Pierce. I'm just ringing to confirm our meeting for Saturday morning, if you could ring me back..."

She left a number and hung up. The office was silent once more and a little red light on the answering machine flashed.

It was lunchtime and Rachel was standing on her own under the bleachers in the football field. She was waiting for Quinn to arrive. This morning they had snuck into the bathroom together and made an appointment with the doctor. Quinn needed to find out if she was pregnant and Rachel was going to make sure she went to this appointment. In the back of their minds though, they both knew she was pregnant. She was throwing up all the time and getting cravings for all sorts of foods. She had told Quinn to try and stay calm, act natural, that kind of thing. The blonde wasn't doing a good job though and Rachel knew that people were starting to get suspicious. Especially Santana, who tried to question Quinn about her strange behaviour at breakfast this morning. Quinn was starting to get panicky too and she knew that wasn't good. If she got to upset Quinn could do anything, she could go off the rails and Rachel didn't know if anybody could help her if that would happen. Once Quinn had an idea in her head it was hard for anyone to shift it.

She looked at her watch. It was nearly quarter past 12. They only had an hour for lunch which meant they only had an hour to get to the doctors surgery and back. Fifteen minutes had already past and Quinn wasn't here. She took out her phone, she didn't have any messages. "Rachel?"

She spun around.

"Quinn! Thank god! Come on, we have to go. We only have an hour!" she cried.

She started to drag the blonde off but Quinn pulled back, stopping her.

"I'm scared Rachel, what if I am...pregnant? What would I do then?" she said.

Rachel looked at her. Her eyes were filled with worry.

"We'll get to that when it comes okay, one bit at a time, yeah? One little bit." she said gently. "Firstly, we've got to go to the Doctor and be sure you are. We'll cross the other paths, when or if we get to them, okay?"

Quinn nodded.

"Come on then, we haven't got long." Rachel told her.

Quinn grabbed her hand and they ran across the field as fast as they could.

Mercedes walked down the corridor towards the choir room. It had been a long morning and she was actually looking forward to getting back to the home. She didn't get much privacy or quiet and she was glad to be be alone now, If only for the short walk to the choir room. Classes had been strange this morning. Tina and Artie had been staring at each other and writing each other notes all through English class. In maths, while old Mr Frobisher had been drowning on about equations she had scanned the class for the other teenagers she lived with. Quinn was playing with her pencil looking worried. Santana had been staring at her, but also Rachel had been too. Rachel had even looked worried. Mercedes wondered why, she could all to clearly remember their massive row in front of the whole children's home when they had started high school. They had both received extra chores that week. As she walked into the choir room she spotted her best friend Kurt. He was alone. Nobody had arrived yet.

"Hey Kurt." she greeted.

"Hi." Kurt seemed to mutter.

She frowned sitting on a chair next to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothings wrong..." he said.

Mercedes knew that there was something wrong but seeing the look on his face she decided to drop it.

She changed the subject and they talked until everyone else got here. Mr Schuester arrived last and he began to take a register, not that he needed to, there wasn't many people in Glee club.

"Mercedes?"

"Here, Mr Schue."

"Rachel?"

Silence. He looked up over the register.

"Rachel?" he said again.

Everyone looked round even though it was quite clear she wasn't there.

"It's not like Rachel not to be here." Mr Schue said, frowning.

"It's eerily quiet." Kurt nodded.

Everyone shut up to prove his point.

"Was she in class this morning?" Mr Schue asked.

"Yes." Finn replied, a little too quickly.

"Do you think she might have gone home ill?" their teacher went on.

"Ha! You don't go home when you're ill, were we live you'd be happy to stay in school, believe me!" Santana said.

The teenagers nodded. You didn't get much peace at the care home, especially, it seemed, when you were poorly.

"I'm sure she's just late or we'll see her tomorrow."Mr Schue said. He carried on with his register.

"Kurt?"

"Here."

…


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Rating: K+**

"Rachel, what am I going to do? What am I going to do?"

Rachel held her blonde friend in her arms. Quinn was crying into her shoulder, the tears falling thick and fast. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how she could calm her.

It was half two in the afternoon and they had not long been back from the doctors surgery. It had taken longer than they had expected and they hadn't made it back to school. It had been hard arriving back from the doctors. They had had to sneak past Maggie and Jamie, the two care-workers on their way in. Rachel had had to literally drag Quinn up the stairs and into their room so they wouldn't be seen. You could tell the blonde was devastated, confused and most of all shocked.

"It's going to be okay Quinn." She told her, rather lamely.

Quinn sniffed and pulled away slightly, looking up at her.

"How?" She cried. "How will this be okay? I'm pregnant! With child! Puck's child!"

Rachel regretted her words.

"I know, I know." she said.

Quinn sat up, crossing her legs. She wiped her tears away.

"We just have to come up with a plan." Rachel said calmly.

"Okay..." Quinn breathed.

Rachel nodded and took a moment before she started to talk again.

"Right...first things first. Do you want to keep it?" She asked.

Quinn scratched Rachel's duvet underneath her.

"Yes, I think I do." she breathed.

"Okay. Okay. Well, do you want to be a full time mom?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shut her eyes, sighing sadly.

"I don't know, I don't think I'm ready..." she said.

"Adoption?"

Quinn snapped her eyes open.

"Are you kidding me? Put it in a care home? I couldn't do that! I've been shoved from care home to foster parents and back again all my life! I wouldn't do that to a kid!" she said.

"Okay, okay."

Rachel thought for a moment.

"Do you think that maybe you should tell Maggie?" she said.

"Are you serious? She'll totally go of it!" Quinn cried.

"Oh Quinn! You know she won't!" Rachel told her. "She's the best care-worker we've had...well, ever!"

Quinn dropped her head into her hands.

"I have to think about what I'm going to do." she all but whispered. "Get my head sorted, then I'll go to Maggie."

Rachel nodded and decided not to push her any further than that. This was going to be the start of a very emotional nine months.

xxxxxxx

"Yo Mags!"

"Yo? Who says 'Yo'?"

Puck smiled as head care-worker Maggie Lorre looked up from the paper she was reading at her desk. Her faint London accent always made the word 'Yo' sound weird to Puck.

"What's up Noah?" she asked smiling.

"I've lost my hair gel, it's been stolen." he said, perching himself on the edge of her desk.

She looked at him blankly, pushing her pink reading glasses up on her head.

"And?"

Puck's eyebrows came together.

"My hair gel had been stolen." he stated again.

Maggie put her legs up on the desk and folded her arms.

"What do you want me to do about it?" she asked.

"Find whoever did it." he told her.

She moved a strand of dark red hair that was tickling her neck and dropped her head to one side.

"Okay...okay. So you want me to get everyone out of their rooms so I can search for your hair gel?" she said.

Puck nodded.

"Yeah!"

"...no..."

"Maggie!"

"Noah!"

Puck stood up sulking.

"That's not cool Mags."

Maggie stuck out her bottom lip.

"I don't care." she smiled. "Now go on and do your homework before dinner."

Puck stuck his Tongue out at her.

"That's so childish." she said, sticking out hers too.

Puck laughed as she threw her pen at him.

"Go on! Homework!" she laughed.

"Okay, okay."

He closed the door, smiling. Then made his way down the hall to see if he could copy Finn's homework.

xxxxxx

"Hey Santana?"

Santana looked over her magazine. To the little blonde girl standing in front of her.

"What's up May?" she asked.

The girl sniffed.

"I hate school."

Santana frowned. May was the brightest of all the kids in the home and she had always loved school. She was always teaching Brittany sums and showing off to Puck with her spellings. She had never hatred school. Not once in all her 7 years of life. She put down her magazine and pulled the girl onto the couch next to her.

"Why? I thought you loved school."

"I hate it. I never want to go back." May mumbled.

Santana frowned.

"May, is someone picking on you?" she asked the girl.

"...do you promise not to tell anyone?" May asked.

"Well..."

"San."

"Okay, I won't tell anyone, what is it?"

"A group of girls are picking on me..."

Santana's heart dropped. Oh hell no!

"Since when?"

"A few weeks ago..."

"A few weeks! May, why didn't you tell anyone sooner?"

"I didn't want to get into trouble."

Santana sighed and wrapped an arm around the girl.

"You won't get into trouble." she told her gently.

May looked up at her, clear blue eyes shining.

"I won't?" she asked.

"No." Santana assured her.

They sat quietly for a moment before Santana broke the silence.

"Are you ready to tell Maggie yet?" she asked the little girl.

She felt May sigh against her.

"I suppose..."

The Latina smiled.

"Come on then, I'll go with you."

"Thanks Santana." May said.

They got up from the couch, May scratching her head. Santana looked down at her.

"Is your head itchy?" she asked.

"Yes, it has been all day." May told her.

Just then the door opened and in walked Eric, a little boy who had been with them since birth. He was also scratching his head.

"Oh my god..." Santana muttered.

"What?"

She quickly pulled May towards her and examined the top of her head.

"No...not again...MAGGIE!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own anything.**

**Rating: Same as before.**

"Right! Children! It seems we have head-lice!" Maggie said.

The teenagers groaned as they all thought 'not again!'

"Teens!" she said, throwing a bottle of head lice treatment to every two people.

"This stuff? Ugh it smells so bad!" Rachel moaned.

"Yeah...it attracts elves too." Brittany said, as Santana took the bottle away from her.

"Do you want head lice?..." Maggie said.

"Come on then guys." Mercedes said. "Let's just get it over with."

"Good children!" Maggie smiled. "Now! Ickle people...your turn!"

The kids all sighed in unison. Maggie blinked.

"You know sometimes you lot can be scary..."

Half an hour later Rachel had put the head lice treatment on her and Quinn's hair and now Quinn was doing homework she had forgotten to do earlier. Her hair smelt bad and she had an hour before she could take it off so she decided to wander downstairs to see how Maggie was doing with the kids. She opened the living room door to see all six kids sitting in a line in front of the care worker. It looked like only two of them had been treated and Maggie looked stressed.

"Hey Maggie, need some help?" she smiled.

Maggie looked up from 9 year old Lucas's head.

"Rachel! Yes! Jesus, you know you would think they would make these bottles easier to open wouldn't you?" she said.

Rachel laughed and took a seat on the couch next to her. She summoned the next child in line and began to apply the treatment.

As Maggie finished with Lucas and started on the next in line she looked sideways at Rachel.

"You're awfully quite darling." she said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." Rachel muttered.

"Rachel I've known you since you were little, I know when something is wrong, so tell me." she said.

Rachel sighed.

"What would you do if your friend was in trouble?" she asked the older woman.

"Well." Maggie said. "It depends in what sort of trouble it was."

"Big trouble..." Rachel muttered.

"Is this somebody from school?" Maggie asked.

Rachel bit her lip.

"Yes..."

"Can you help them?"

"I can try."

"And you will try, I know that much Rachel."

Rachel smiled. Maggie always knew what to do. Quinn really had to tell her about the pregnancy. She looked down for the next child only to realise they had all been done.

"Well, that took less time than I thought it would!" Maggie smiled. "Now to check on the teenagers..."

Rachel laughed.

"Are you okay?" Maggie asked her.

"Yes. Thanks Mags."

"No problem." She stood up. "Right, I'll see you in an hour for a mass hair wash!"

Rachel laughed and Maggie left the room. She would do all she could for Quinn and if that meant keeping quiet for the time being that's what she would do.

xxxxxxx

Later that night, after all the kids in the home had been washed and dried and sorted for the morning, everyone gathered in the living room. The boys, including, surprisingly, Kurt, were playing poker with care worker Jamie. Puck was winning, of course, and there was nearly no noise coming from their little corner as they all huddled over their cards in concentration.

The girls had the tv switched onto some soap opera. It wasn't very interesting, but there was nothing else on and it did seem to be captivating the kids. Quinn, Brittany and Santana sat together on the floor eating dry cereal from a bowl. They were multi-tasking, one eye on the television and the other on each other as they talked.

Mercedes and Tina were sat combing Lottie and Bebe's hairs with a head lice comb. They were all transfixed with the tv. Rachel sat on her own on the far end of the couch. She had done all her homework earlier so she now had nothing to do. In front of her on the low coffee table was a head lice comb so she picked it up and started dragging it through her thick dark hair. Ever since she was a little girl she had always loved getting her hair brushed. She used to wish for a mother that would sit and brush her hair for her and plait it. She smiled at her little childhood dream. She knew it would never happen now, nobody adopted a 16 year old girl. And soon she'd be 18 and moving on, she'd be an adult. She would move on...forever an orphan. Well...she wasn't an orphan. She did have a mom...somewhere. When she was little she had had two dads. They had loved her very much, that she knew. But they had died in a fire and from the age of 3 she had had nobody. She wasn't sure her mother knew she was in a children's home. She sighed, thinking of her dads always made her feel lonely.

"Hey Rach, you wanna shove up."

She broke out of her trance and looked up to see Kurt standing over her.

"Sure." she said, allowing him on the couch with her.

He sat down and looked at her, frowning.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh...yes. Yes. I was just thinking." she told him.

"Oh yeah?"

"I was just thinking about my dads."

"Oh..."

"Yeah...sorry."

"Sorry?" Kurt laughed slightly. "Sorry about what?"

"I must be bumming you out."

Kurt sat up straighter and took the nit comb off her.

"You can't be happy all the time Rach, it's not possible, even for you!" he said, gently, starting to comb her hair.

Rachel smiled.

"What about you? How are you coping these days?" she asked him.

Kurt had been in the home since he was seven years old. His mom died and his father couldn't cope looking after him on his own. Their father-son relationship was strained but they still saw each other. Most weekends Burt Hummel would come and visit his son and take him out somewhere. Kurt had gotten used to the situation over the years but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when his dad left him at the end of the day.

"To be honest I haven't got time to think of my dad these days. The amount of times I'm getting slushied a day." he said.

"Oh yeah. At least yesterday was berry flavour, it goes with my name!"

Kurt laughed.

"Do you think we should tell Maggie about the slushies?" he asked her.

Rachel sighed.

"It's all a part of school." she said.

"But it's Puck and Quinn that's doing it." he reminded her.

"I know, I know. But what can she do. They are only doing it to keep up their

reputation." she told him.

"I don't really care about their reputations. I mean, Quinn used to be your best friend." he said.

She nodded.

"You know they don't mean it." she muttered.

Kurt stopped combing.

"You're actually defending them?"

"No, no."

"Then what Rachel? We don't deserve to be treated like this."

Rachel turned to face him.

"I know."

Kurt frowned.

"Rachel are okay?" he asked.

She nodded, shook her head, then shrugged.

"I just wish my dads were still here." she whispered.

"Oh Rachel."

He held out his arms and she snuggled into him. She really needed a best friend right know and Kurt was ready there for her. Just like he always was. Even though they had trouble getting on, they both had each others backs.

Quinn looked over at Rachel and Kurt snuggled up together on the couch. She felt a pang of concern and also jealously. Kurt was Rachel's best friend now and Quinn couldn't help hating that fact.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Same as before**

**Rating: K+**

It was 7.00am Saturday morning and Rachel was awoken by the noise of the birds outside. It was a sunny day and she was glad she finally had a day off school, the week had dragged. She looked over to Quinn who was still asleep, she strangely liked to watch her sleep. It was rather peaceful and in her land of sleep Quinn didn't have any troubles. She lay for a while before deciding to get up, the kids would be up soon and she knew Jamie would need help with the breakfast. She pulled on a pair of black leggings and a long multicoloured top. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and decided not to bother with make-up. A quick wash in the bathroom sink later and she was ready to face the hungery troops. As she past the living room she could hear the tv already playing. She smiled, remembering when she used to get up this early on a Saturday to watch her favourite cartoon.

On a Saturday morning the home was practically deserted. The six kids would be glued to the tv in the livingroom. All the teenagers would still be in bed. They didn't rise until at least 11.00 and by then the kids' cartoons would be finished and they would be playing out. The tv then got switches to music channels. The sound of breaking pottery made Rachel move faster to the kitchen, she poked her head round the door. "Need any help?" she asked the hunched over care worker.

"Yes! Pass the brush will you?" She hurried over to the dust pan and brush passing it down to Jamie.

"What did you break?" She asked.

"Eric's bowl." He groaned, sweeping it up quickly. "What am I going to do? He won't eat out anything else."

"You'll just have to convince him to have toast this morning. Then go and get another one that looks the same." Rachel told him.

He looked at her, standing up.

"Do you think that'll work?" he asked.

"Oh yes. Maggie's broke the bowl 7 times." she smiled.

Jamie's jaw dropped.

"Sneaky woman!...clever...but sneaky!" he said.

Rachel laughed, taking out Eric's plate instead. The little boy wouldn't eat out of anything other than these two dishes.

"You think this plate is the original!" she said.

Jamie laughed.

"Well, I guess it's toast for breakfast this morning!" he said.

He exited the room to check on the kids leaving Rachel alone. She pulled out the toaster from the top cupboard and located the bread. As she was putting the first four slices of bread in she heard a noise near the door. Expecting it to be one of the kids she didn't turn around. "I'm afraid it's toast this morning!" she said. "Any special requests? Jam?"

"Marmalade?"

Rachel jumped spinning round. She lay a hand over her heart. Finn laughed.

"Sorry Rachel...didn't mean to shock you." he said.

She shook her head.

"It's okay, I just thought you were one of the kids."

He walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk. He poured himself a glass full then leaned against the counter. He took a gulp before turning to her.

"How come you're doing breakfast?" he asked.

"Oh, well Jamie is actually, i'm just helping." she told him.

"Oh."

"How come you're up?" she asked.

"Extra football practice in an hour. I've just had to drag Puck out of bed." he told her.

Rachel laughed as the bread popped up.

"You can have the first batch of toast if you want." she said.

Finn smiled and Rachel felt a buzzing in her stomach. She had lived with Finn for years but suddenly she felt nervous around him, especially at school. Her stomach would flutter and she would find herself staring. She didn't know why she felt like this all of a sudden. He was Quinn's boyfriend and it was unnerving.

"Rachel...can I ask you something?" Finn suddenly said, breaking through her thoughts.

"Sure."

"Have you noticed anything weird about Quinn lately?"

Yes...yes...pregnancy...

"No...w-why?"

"She's been a bit distant recently."

"Oh."

"It's probably nothing..."

Rachel nodded and put on a smile.

"There you are." she said, handing Finn his toast.

"Thanks Rachel, you're the best."

She giggled, then mentally slapped herself. She sounded like a 13 year old with a silly crush. She swallowed hard, maybe she was a 16 year old with a silly crush...Finn didn't seem to notice Rachel burning red as he wolfed down his strawberry jam toast. Rachel reloaded the toaster as Jamie walked back into the kitchen.

"Oh hey Finn! Football practice today?" he said.

"Yeah, Mike, Matt and Puck should be down soon." Finn told him.

"Good good."

There was a noise in the hall.

"That'll be them." Finn said. "I'll see you later."

"See you mate."

Finn stopped at the door for a moment.

"See you later then Rachel."

"Bye Finn."

The toast popped causing Rachel to jump.

xxxxxxx

"Quinn!"

Quinn looked up from her book. She was sitting alone in her and Rachel's room.

"Come in..."

Santana burst open the door and jumped on the blondes bed. Quinn put her book to one side and looked at her.

"What?"

"Party tonight, are you in?" Santana asked, grinning.

"Party where?" Quinn frowned.

"Rhea from school's house, her folks are on holiday." Santana said.

"A house party? Oh I don't know."

It was Santana's turn to frown now.

"Quinn, you love parties." she said.

Quinn bit her lip. She was worried, she knew she shouldn't go, because of the baby. Though she knew Santana was on to her. She was about to say no when a sudden thought stopped her. She didn't have to drink like she always did. She would just go and have a nice...sober...time.

"Are you in?"

"Yeah, I'm in."

xxxxxx

"Quinn do you think this is a good idea?"

Quinn sighed. She applied another layer of red lipstick, keeping her eyes on her reflection in the mirror.

"Rachel, I told you, I'm not going to drink!"

Rachel exhaled dropping into the chair next to the window. Quinn re-capped her lipstick and threw it into her bag. She looked at Rachel.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Rachel nodded standing up again. She pulled down her silver sequinned dress slightly.

"Who else is going to this party?" She asked, grabbing her purse.

"Everybody." Quinn stated.

"Everybody?."

"Everybody." Quinn repeated.

Rachel looked nervous. Quinn sighed.

"Oh stop worrying your pretty little head, Maggie thinks we're going to a school disco." She told her.

She opened the bedroom door and let the small brunette out in front of her. When they were out on the landing the door opposite swung upon revealing two lanky teenagers, skirts falling just over their thighs. Rachel turned back to Quinn.

"How are we going to get Maggie to believe we're going to a school disco when miss cheerio here is dressed like a lap dancer!" she said.

"We'll shove you forward and she'll think we're going to church!" Santana snapped back.

Quinn shook her head.

"Cool it you two. Santana, maybe you and Brittany should stand behind us so Maggie won't see you."

Santana narrowed her eyes.

"Fine." she huffed.

Before long all the teenagers were ready and in the lobby of the home.

"Right kiddies, have fun, be back before twelve." Maggie said to them.

"We will be." Rachel assured her.

"Puck?"

"Maggie?"

"It's your job to look after the girls tonight okay?" she told him.

Puck moaned.

"Why me?"

"Because Finn did it last time, and besides, you're so good at it!" Maggie smiled.

Puck narrowed his eyes at her.

"Fine."

"Go on then, go away, see you all later." Maggie said.

The group started to file out of the door and Maggie watched them go before carrying her tea into the living room where she would be spending her evening watching Disney films.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

**Rating: T**

**A/N: Thanks for all the favourite alerts and story alerts :D Also thank you for the reviews, I love knowing what you all think. Thanks for reading!**

"Santana, Brittany, Quinn, glad you came!"

The three girls looked to the shrieking girl. She had been part of the cheerios until Coach Sylvester had kicked her off the team last year. Rhea Silverman had been a good cheerleader but had gone off one summer and came back to school with a face full of Botox. She could hardly blink never mind smile so off from the team she was. They had tried to stay friends with her but it was hard. She had joined the poetry club for goodness sakes! They all put on their biggest smiles though as she hurried towards them.

"Hey!" Rhea beamed.

"Hi Rhea, we brought along some other people, i hope you don't mind." Santana said.

Rhea looked to the group, her smile dropped slightly when her eyes grazed Rachel, Mercedes, Tina, Artie and Kurt. But then she saw the people behind them and her eyes became bigger than saucepans.

"Hey, nice place you have here." Puck said, cooly.

"T-t-thanks." Rhea stuttered.

Quinn frowned, she obviously hadn't been a cheerio for that long...

"Get yourself's drinks." Rhea said, pointing over to a table with a stack if plastic cups and a dozen bottles on top.

They thanked her and half the group went to get drinks and half stayed where they were. Puck turned to the girls who were left standing in the middle of the room.

"Don't get drunk." he told them.

"You can't tell us what to do Puckerman." Santana hissed.

"I've got to look after you so I can! Do you want Maggie to be angry?" Puck said.

Santana frowned. "Whatever." she mumbled.

"Just be outside by half eleven right, we have to walk back!" Puck told them.

"We'll be good, Puck, don't worry 'kay!" Quinn said as she began dragging off the girls.

"I mean it, no drink, half eleven!" he shouted after them.

The party really kicked off half an hour later. And, As predicted by nearly everyone, by eleven, Santana and Brittany were already drunk. Quinn hadn't touched a drop and she was quite proud of herself. She actually felt better not drinking. She was probably going to be the only sober that night, which was weird, she wasn't used to seeing Santana and Brittany act this way. Well...if she was she couldn't remember.

She watched as Brittany became more naked as the night went on and Santana becoming clinging...and not surprisingly horny. She sipped her orange and craned her neck around the room. Brittany and Santana had gone off to dance so she was sitting alone in the corner of Rhea's livingroom. She saw Rachel almost immediately, moving her head around to get a better view. The small singer seemed to be latched on to somebody, giggling away. Mercedes and Tina were next to her, chatting quietly to some girls from school. Quinn couldn't see who Rachel was with so she stood up. At first she thought it was Kurt but then she recognised the boy as one of the football players. The football player, Quinn couldn't remember his name had his hand on Rachel's waist, but he was moving it up her body slowly. Quinn quickly put her drink down and hurried over, why weren't Mercedes and Tina stopping him? They looked sober, unlike Rachel.

"Hey!" she shouted, standing in front of them, trying to be heard over the music.

The guy had his hand on the side of Rachel's breast. He didn't remove it when he saw Quinn, he just looked up, he was drunk.

"Hey Quinny!" Rachel cried.

The guy still hadn't removed his hand.

"Hey! You wanna remove your hand while you still have one!" Quinn yelled at him.

"Why sweetheart? You want me to come with you instead?" he slurred.

Mercedes and Tina had heard the commotion and were pulling Rachel away from the creep. Quinn lowered her voice, leaning in towards him.

"I'm queen at school, I can ruin you." she threatened.

He breathed lowly, Quinn could smell the alcohol on his breath. She was repulsed but she didn't back down.

"I'd like to see you try..." he breathed.

He looked to the girls on his right then back to Quinn. He put his drink down and moved his grubby hand up her thigh. Quinn didn't have time to react before two strong arms were wrapped around the waist and she was pulled away. She watched as Puck yanked the guy up by his football jacket, whisper something in his ear then punch him in the jaw. The room went silent apart from the booming music as the slimly guy dropped to the ground. There were a few screams and Quinn saw Santana and Brittany rush over to her. Puck held his soon to be bruised hand and turned to see if she was okay. The look of concern and fear in his face made Quinn want to cry. She stared at him for a few seconds before she heard Santana scream out to him to watch out. He spun round but was to slow and the guy landed a fist right onto Puck's nose. He stumbled backwards but got a hold of himself quickly, he wiped some of the flowing blood away from his nose with the back of his hand before rounding on the guy again.

Quinn heard Finn and Santana swear as the two boys got into a proper brawl, crashing into the furniture. She gasped as Brittany pulled her away, to join the rest of the girls and now Artie and Kurt. Finn, Mike and Matt jumped in to break up the fight. Mike and Matt pulling the jock away and Finn trying to take Puck out of the situation. Rhea had obviously turned the music off because all anyone could hear now was the boys shouting and the girls squealing. Santana, who always seemed to get involved in fights, had started screaming at a girl and Mercedes had to drag her away.

Tears sprung to Quinn's eyes. She looked over to Rachel who looked like a scared child. She mentally kicked herself, how could she have been so stupid, taking Rachel to a party, she had never been to a party before. She hadn't had a drink before. She pulled Rachel to her, grabbing her hand. The guys had managed to stop the fight but it still looked like Puck wanted to tear the guy to shreds. Finn had his hand on his arm, just incase he lost it again. Mike was still holding the guy back, the slime ball writhing around, yelling at Puck.

All of a sudden, from outside, there was a siren noise, they all looked round to see red and blue lights through the net curtains in the window.

"Shit." Santana muttered.

Quinn sighed but kept hold of Rachel's hand. The brunette was swaying and she had a green twinge to her cheeks. The police, great, that's all they needed. She looked at her watch. It was quarter to twelve and Santana, Brittany and Rachel were drunk, Puck was bleeding and the rest were either tipsy or scared out of their wits. Her own heart was racing, one for the hand she had had on her thigh and two for Puck fighting for her.

The police opened the unlocked door, banging it on the wall. The two officers strode over to the bleeding boys. One checked them over and the other started to get everyone out. Kurt and Artie got Mercedes and Tina out with everyone else. Which left Quinn to deal with Rachel, Santana and Brittany. Mike and Matt got questioned but they had nothing really do with it and were relatively sober so they got told to go home. They met Quinn in the garden, where all the teenagers from the home were gathered.

"What do we do?" Santana said.

"Puck and Finn have been asked for parents numbers, the police have already rang the home." Mike told them.

"Shit!" Santana moaned.

"Who phoned the bloody police?" Quinn asked.

"The next door neighbours, they heard screams and pottery breaking." Matt said.

"We are so dead..." Mercedes moaned.

They heard a police radio and turned back to the house. Puck and Finn were being loaded into one police car and the slimy jock into another that had just arrived. They were obviously getting taken back to the home. Quinn looked a second time at her watch, it was after twelve, though it didn't really matter now. Maggie would be waiting for the police to drop Puck and Finn off.

"Come on then guys, we've got to get back." Quinn said.

They nodded and set off on the short walk up to the care home. All dreading what was to come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

The group walked up the driveway slowly, they wanted to get home and into bed but they didn't want to face Maggie. She nearly never got angry but when she did it was hell. They walked on the grass as the police car drove out of the driveway. Puck and Finn were obviously inside now. The hall light was on as they reached the door. They stood in front of the closed door, not one of them wanting to be the first inside, eventually Santana reached for the handle and pushed it open. Knowing that they wouldn't be able to just sneak upstairs they proceeded in a line to the living room where they could see a light under the crack of the door. Santana looked back at the group.

"What do we do?" she whispered.

"I don't know, can you hear anything?" Quinn asked, from the back of the group.

Santana turned back and placed her ear to the door. The rest of the group waited, none of them daring to even breath.

"Not a thing." Santana whispered.

Just then the door swung open revealing an angry looking Maggie.

"Ah you're home." she said.

They didn't know what to say so they said nothing.

"I want you all to go to bed. We'll discuss this in the morning. Go quietly so you don't wake the kids. I expect you downstairs in the morning at 8.00. And if any of you are drunk, I want someone sober with them tonight, ok?"

They were silent still.

"Okay?" Maggie said, voice raised slightly.

"Yes." they chorused.

"Bed."

They did what they were told and climbed the stairs. Maggie was rarely angry but when she was, she got really scary. Nobody wanted to upset her. They all dreaded the morning, especially the ones who would have hangovers... They decided to stick to Maggie's rules as not to anger her more.

Santana had sobered up quite a bit on the way home so she could look after Brittany who was still drunk and seemed to have lost her top. They quietly bade goodnight to everyone on the landing and Santana dragged Brittany to their room, making sure she didn't wake any of the kids in the way. Once they were in the bedroom, Santana shut the door. She didn't bother turning on the light as she knew it would just hurt her head. This wasn't the first time she had been caught drunk. She opened the curtains instead, letting the moonlight flood in to light the room. Brittany was sitting on her bed and Santana was glad she wasn't the loud sort of drunk.

"Come on Britts, bedtime." she said, quietly.

"But I'm not tired..." Brittany moaned.

Santana smiled.

"You will be in the morning! Come on, where are your pyjamas?" she said.

Brittany pointed to the back of the door and Santana went to fetch them. When she returned Brittany had removed her skirt.

"Here." Santana said to her. "Put on your pyjamas."

The blonde cheerleader shook her head.

"I don't want to, it's too hot!" she cried.

Santana shushed her.

"Fine! Just shut up! If Maggie hears you we'll both be dead!" she hissed.

"Sorry Santana..." Brittany smiled.

Santana rubbed her forehead. Jeez it was hard looking after a drunk.

"Get into bed, yeah?" she said.

Brittany scrambled to the top of her bed and sprawled out on top of her duvet.

"Aren't you getting in?" Santana asked.

"No."

Santana sighed.

"Okay, whatever, just go to sleep."

She turned to her bed but Brittany gave a moan.

"What?"

"I need a goodnight kiss!"

"A what...?"

Brittany frowned.

"A goodnight kiss!" she repeated.

"Brittany just go to sleep."

"No!"

"Shh!"

"No!"

"Fine!"

Santana bent down and kissed Brittany on the cheek.

"Sleep!"

"That wasn't a proper kiss! I want one on the lips!" Brittany cried.

"Ah Jesus..." Santana muttered.

Brittany puckered her lips. Santana bent down and touched her lips to her best friend's. After a second Santana went to pull away but Brittany caught the back of her neck and pulled her back down kissing her again. Santana found herself not pulling away like she should, she was kissing back and enjoying it. After a while they did break apart. Brittany smiled up at her. Santana was in shock. She had just made out with her nearly naked best friend on her bed. She found her eyes roaming to the blondes, only just covered my thin lace, breasts. She had never looked at Brittany this way before and she found that she was turned on. She knew it was probably the alcohol messing with her brain but she was freaked out. She stood up straight.

"Go to sleep." she said to Brittany.

Brittany didn't say anything just pulled back her bed covers and climbed under them.

"Goodnight San." she whispered.

"Night Brittany."

Santana quickly changed and got into bed too. Her mind was buzzing and she knew she wouldn't get much sleep now.

xxxxxxx

"Finn, go to bed."

Finn jumped up quickly. He didn't want to be in the living room anymore. Maggie hadn't really told them off yet but she was angry and the screaming would come soon enough. She had been standing at the front door waiting for them when the police took them home. She had thanked the police and grabbed them by the arm. After asking about the rest of the group and trying to control her temper she told them how disappointed she was in them. Puck had been bleeding so she allowed him to get a wet cloth from the downstairs bathroom. Though she knew a bit of what had gone on from the police phone call she didn't know much so she had started to quiz Finn. He hadn't done much. Just got Quinn away from the creep, he hadn't been drinking either so he wasn't in that much trouble. Puck returned so Maggie had let him go. He shut the door behind him and sighed. He predicted the teenagers of the home were in for a week of pain.

Puck sank into the couch, he held a damp cloth up to his nose, not daring to look at the care worker fuming in front of him.

"I hope you know you're in trouble." Maggie said lowly.

He nodded.

"Noah, look at me." Maggie sighed, dropping her arms.

He looked up. The cloth was already stained red and he had old dried up blood on his chin. She dropped into the couch next to him. She knew, at least for tonight, shouting wasn't going to get her anywhere.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

In response he pulled the cloth away. The heavy blood had stopped now which left only trickling blood.

"Here." she pulled out a tissue from her Cardigan pocket and gave it to him.

"Thanks." he said quietly.

"I don't think it's broken or anything." she said.

"The police dude checked me over." he told her.

There was a silence as Puck blotted at his nostrils, managing to stop the bleeding. There was blood all over his face so Maggie took the cloth from him.

"Here." she said, wiping around his nose and chin carefully. She curled her finger under his chin, pulling him further towards her.

"Why did you hit that boy?" she asked him.

"He was touching Quinn. I got angry." he muttered.

"She could of handled herself, you know that." she said.

"Yeah..."

"Are you angry now?" she asked him.

"No. I'm sorry Maggie." He almost felt like he was about to cry.

"It's okay. Just try not to do it again." she said.

"Try?"

"Your very hardest." she said. "But don't think you won't be punished tomorrow."

He smiled. She dropped the cloth but kept her finger under his chin.

"You're a good boy really." she smiled.

"I try."

She kissed him on the cheek softly.

"Go to bed." she told him.

He stood up. He was tired and in pain and needed sleep. He was just at the door when Maggie called out.

"8.00 in the morning, down here." she said.

He smiled back at her before closing the door softly and heading up the stairs to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

**A/N: Hello! Thanks once again to everyone who favourited and story alerted it, it makes me feel all special :D Also thanks to Brittana Forever for reviewing nearly every chapter! I like you very muchly! heehee! Anyhoo...enjoy!**

Rachel woke. She didn't know why. She looked over at her clock, it was half seven. She was parched and, though the curtains were closed, the brightness was hurting her head. She groaned pulling the duvet further up over her shoulders. She was hungover and it hurt like hell. She could remember the night before, of course she could, the police, the fight. She couldn't remember much after they had got home. Quinn had held her hand up the stairs and had put her into bed but that's all she could remember. She lay with her eyes closed for a while before Quinn's alarm sounded making her groan and pull her pillow around her ears. The annoying ringing sound stopped and instead she heard Quinn's voice. She dropped the pillow back to it's original position.

"You'd better get up."

Rachel moaned at the blonde girl who was up and dressed already.

"But...I think I'm dead."

Quinn laughed

. "You wish! Maggie wants to see everyone downstairs now." she said.

Rachel remembered how angry the care worker had been last night and rolled slowly out of bed. She cursed herself as her feet hit the cold carpet. She was never going to get drunk ever again, it was to painful. As she brushed her teeth she tried to remember how much alcohol she had actually had. After a few minutes she decided to give up, her brain was so muddled she couldn't even think about her next move. She spat and tried not to be sick, she looked horrible so she grabbed her tatty hair and wound it into a bun. When she was finished in the bathroom she found Quinn sitting on her bed and a pile of clothes on her own.

"I got you some clothes, now put them on and get a move on." Quinn said.

Rachel moved and pulled on her clothes, she grabbed her Cardigan before being shooed put of the room by Quinn. On the landing, Santana and Brittany, looking a little worse for wear had just came out of their bedroom too. They all half smiled at each other before going single file down the stairs. When they got to the living room, Tina, Mercedes, Kurt and Artie were already there. Rachel left Quinn and went straight to Kurt. Settling herself next to him she held onto his arm, she never thought she'd even think this but she was scared of Maggie and what was coming. Kurt smiled at her, though there was worry in his face too and he didn't even have anything to drink. Quinn sat down next to Santana and after the footballers, including a battered looking Puck, arrived they all fell silent, waiting for the axe to fall. The door opened and Maggie walked in, she had a cup of strong smelling coffee in her hands, they all assumed this was to make the hungover people flinch. It was working and Rachel could feel her stomach churning. The silence was almost deafening, the older woman took her place in front of the small group, she put her coffee down and folded her arms.

"Now, last night was disgraceful." She said. "Going out and getting drunk...at your age."

A few of them looked down guiltily.

"I wouldn't have minded you having maybe just one, it is a weekend but you came in drunk! There are young children in this house." she went on. "I also trusted you, a thing I should never have done, you tell me that you're going to a school disco. You lied to me. Now I know, fair enough, that I can't stop you from going to parties and having a few drinks but when the police ring you at nearly midnight, that's going a bit to far. You all need think. Think about your responsibilities. Think about the example you're setting to the kids, they don't want to see the people they love like real siblings coming in smelling and barely being able to stand. Not to mention being covered in blood."

Puck looked to his feet, Rachel was nearly in tears and the rest of the group looked ashamed.

"I know some of you didn't do anything wrong so I'm going to be fair and let you go, though I'm taking away your allowance for the month. Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, Matt and Mike, you can all go."

They all shuffled off quickly, Kurt giving Rachel a sympathetic look. When they were gone Maggie turned back to the remaining teenagers.

"Finn and Quinn, you two will be on cooking duty for the next month and I'm taking away your allowances too. Go." she said.

They jumped up, rushing out of the room after the rest of the group. Maggie looked at the three girls who were suffering with hangovers.

"You three are on school run duty for the month and I will also be taking away your allowances." she told them.

She motioned for them to go. They to got up but moved slower, scared of throwing up there and then. When they were gone, just Puck was left. Maggie turned to him.

"You'll have probably guessed that I'm taking away your allowance for the next month." she said.

He nodded.

"Feeling any better this morning?" she asked.

"Not really..." he muttered, his nose was fine but it still hurt and his hands were sore and bruised from the fight.

"Good."

They were silent as Maggie took a sip of her coffee.

"You'll be doing extra chores for the month and also you'll be helping Jamie and I in anything we may call you for, okay?" she said.

"Yes Maggie." he said, his voice husky and tired.

"Good. Now, go and get some pills and start your homework for tomorrow." she told him.

He stood up and as he past Maggie to leave the room, she spoke, quietly and gently.

"Noah, you know my door is always open if you need to talk." she said.

He nodded again, she looked at his bruised hands.

"There's some cream in the bathroom cupboard." she said.

"Thank you Maggie." He smiled slightly.

It was her turn to nod as he turned and walked out of the room. She stared after him. He had gotten angry last night, something which she thought he had got a handle on. She was worried and had to find out what it was that was wrong. Sooner, rather than later.

xxxxxxxxx

The rest of the day went by quickly and quite quietly. The kids had noticed the awkwardness between the group. The up side was that Maggie had given out their punishments and had moved on from the whole thing. She was a little quiet, which wasn't altogether strange, but the teenagers decided to dodge her just to be on the safe side. By Monday everyone was tired. Santana and Brittany had worn dark glasses all day at school and by evening were showing no sign of removing them. Rachel had struggled the most with her hangover though, she had stopped throwing up but her vocal chords were still really taking it bad. She hadn't sung in two days. Finn, who didn't 'do' cooking was sore from cuts he was earning by using kitchen scissors and little burns from hot trays. They were all suffering and all of them seemed to be in their own little bubble all the teenagers were in bed by nine that night.

Tuesday morning, the alarm clock beeped annoyingly. Puck groaned and stuck out his hand, hitting it off. Across the room, Finn was still asleep. It was coming up to seven and they needed to be up before the girls took over the bathroom. He swung his legs out of bed, picking up his slipper and chucking it at his best friend. Finn moaned into his pillow, he wasn't the best person in the morning.

"Come on man, the kids will starve, get in the kitchen!" He said.

Finn pulled his pillow on top of his head. He hatred meal times now, and it was only Tuesday, he had only been serving his punishment since Sunday. Puck pulled on a vest over his shorts and left Finn to drag himself up. He quickly used the bathroom then jogged down the stairs. The house was quiet as the kids didn't have to get up until eight. He walked the corridor and went into the kitchen for some juice. When he opened the door however, he found he wasn't alone. Maggie was standing against the bench, glass of water in hand. She jumped when she saw him.

"Noah! You scared me!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry Maggie." he said. He went to the fridge, pulling out his favourite apple juice. He removed the cap and brought the bottle up to his lips.

"Get a glass!" Maggie cried. He rolled his eyes, reaching behind her for a beaker.

"Or a plastic cup...usually the six year olds use them but...whatever." she said.

Puck laughed. He took a gulp and stood next to her.

"Why are you here?" He asked her.

"I work here."

Puck tutted.

"I meant, what are you doing here this early? You never take the night shift." he said.

"Jamie couldn't do the night shift, he's ill or something, so I had to." she told him.

"Oh."

Maggie laughed.

"Disappointed Jamie isn't here?" she said.

"No...it's just, I've never seen you on a morning." he shrugged.

"Yes you have."

"Not recently."

She drained the rest of her water and placed the glass in the dish.

"You're weird."

Puck laughed.

"Can you call me weird, is that allowed?" he smiled.

"Yes, it's in my contract." she nodded.

Puck put her beaker with hers in the dish and Maggie picked something up from the bench, knocking it into her pocket.

"Also in my contract." She said. "Is telling you what to do! Go bang the pan for me, wake up the kids."

"Bang the pan?" asked Puck confused.

"Jamie doesn't bang a pan in the morning? How does he get you all up?"

"Well...with great difficulty."

Maggie smiled, reaching into the pan cupboard. She pulled open the draw too, picking out a wooden spoon. Puck took them from her.

"Go on. I want everyone down here in five minutes." she said to him.

He went out into the hallway, braced himself for the noise and started banging the spoon against the bottom of the pan.

"Everyone up!" He shouted, the pan noise echoing up the stairs. There was banging upstairs, as kids got shocked out of bed. There was a slamming of a door and Santana's screeching.

"Puck! Shut the hell up!"

Rachel came down the stairs, rubbing her eyes.

"Shhh!" she hissed as she past him.

"That's enough now Noah!" he heard Maggie shout to him.

He smiled and returned to the kitchen, he put the pan and spoon away and sat down at the table next to Rachel.

"Oh no mister! You're helping Finn with breakfast this morning." Maggie said.

His jaw fell open.

"What?"

Maggie smiled.

"Cup of coffee for me and Rach please." she said sweetly.

Puck scowled, scraping back his chair slowly. Finn walked in, followed by the rest of the teenagers and the two boys set about making toast for everyone. After breakfast everyone got ready for school. The teenagers, with the exception of Santana, Brittany and Rachel who had to drop the kids off first, set off for school.

The morning dragged by with maths class. They were learning algebra, which, to everyones surprise, Brittany was rather good at. Santana had never quite understood why a person would put numbers and letters together, Brittany on the other hand said that the mix was funny. Since Saturday night, Santana had found herself distancing herself from her blonde best friend, in maths class though she had no choice but to sit next to her. She had been thinking of the drunken kiss all weekend, she knew it was just that, drunken, but that didn't stop her thinking about it. Brittany hadn't said anything about it and she supposed she should be relieved, that it was nothing. She didn't feel very relieved though, she felt hurt, she felt stupid.

At lunchtime, the teenagers managed to sit at the same table. They laughed and talked and ate.

"I still don't understand how you can do algebra Brittany." Quinn said, shaking her head. Brittany blinked.

"It's easy, I like it when the numbers and letters are friends." she told them.

They laughed. Kurt was looking into his spoon, frowning.

"My hair moved." he frowned.

"Dude, I think it's supposed to." Finn said.

"Ken's doesn't." Brittany stated. "That's why Barbie married him."

They stared at her for a moment. Kurt getting out his hairspray. He sprayed the front of his misbehaving hair, moving it back into place. The spray caught in Puck's nose causing him to sneeze.

"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed. She dug in her pocket for a tissue only to find a small bottle of pills. She pulled them out and read the label. They had Maggie's name on the top.

"What's that?" Puck asked her.

"Pills...they're Maggie's." She told him.

"Maggie's? Why are they in your pocket?" he asked.

"I borrowed her jumper this morning, she must have forgotten to take them out before she gave it to me." she said.

"What are they for?" Santana asked, frowning.

"It doesn't say." Rachel said, squinting at the little letters on the label. "Take when needed."

"Does she need them now?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know, I don't even know what they're for." Rachel frowned.

"Maybe someone should take them back home for her." Finn suggested.

"Yeah, I mean it's only ten minutes away." Artie said.

Rachel looked at her watch.

"We have 15 minutes before our classes start." she said.

"I'll go, I'm fast and let's be honest, I don't care if I miss the start of a lesson." Puck shrugged.

Rachel bit her lip before passing him the bottle carefully.

"Okay, go but be quick, you can't be in trouble." she said.

He jumped up, throwing his bag onto his shoulder, he pocketed the bottle and with a quick salute was gone out of the cafeteria.

He got to the home in under 10 minutes, which he was quite proud of, laps did pay off. He opened the big red door and was instantly creeped out by the lack of sound there was. There was no screaming, no talking, yelling, anything, it was deadly silent. He walked quickly to Maggie's office at the end of the hall, he knocked and waited.

"Come in..." He entered, Maggie not looking up.

"Ah, Jamie, so you've got rid of your hangover? Really though, who gets drunk during the day?..!"

Jamie was drunk? That's why he couldn't do the night shift? Puck laughed. Maggie snapped her head up.

"Noah! What are you doing here? They didn't send you home did they?" she asked, frowning.

"No." he said quickly. "I came back to return something to you."

Maggie looked confused.

"Oh?"

He took out the bottle of pills.

"They had your name on." he told her. "They were in Rachel's pocket, we didn't know if you needed them or not."

"Oh."

He handed her them back.

"I took them this morning, I probably won't need them again today. Thank you for bringing them back though, it was very kind." she smiled.

Puck smiled too, a dopey smile. Maggie looked down at her watch.

"I hope you don't have a lesson...?" she said.

"No..." he looked down at his own watch, not for a minute yet anyway...

She stood up, pocketing the pills again.

"What are the pills for?" he found himself asking.

Maggie, who was walking towards the door stopped and turned back.

"Vertigo, if I don't take these when I need to I'll be on my back and you won't like to see that would you."

Puck laughed. Then watched her walk out of the room, really watched. When she had gone, he screwed up his eyes, trying not to imagine her on her back in any way.

After school, all the kids were home before five. It was Tuesday night which meant meeting night. So after dinner, which was actually okay to taste, considering Quinn had never cooked in her life, all the residents of the home sat together in the living-room. Jamie was back which meant Maggie wasn't alone so it was a full house.

"I call this meeting to order!" Jamie cried.

The kids laughed, Maggie gave him a sideways look.

"Anyway!" she said, moving on. "As you all know there is going to be a care home open day at the weekend. I want you all to be on your best behaviour as the perspective adoptive parents come round. Quinn and Rachel, I want both of you to be welcomers at the front door, put on your prettiest smiles and your pinkest dresses, okay?"

"Fine." they both mumbled.

Maggie looked at all the long faces and sighed.

"Come on kids, it's only for the afternoon, you don't want to be in care all of your life do you." she said.

"We're hardly going to get adopted." Mercedes said. "We're to old now."

"Maybe not, but maybe you will, maybe you'll be lucky." Maggie said.

"C'mon guys, we can help the little ones." Kurt said.

There were a mixture of 'okays' and 'fines' and Maggie smiled.

"Cool!" she said. "Right, I'll let you all go now! You all know the drill for the weekend so I'm happy, we don't need to be here any longer."

The teens filed out of the room and the kids turned the tv on and brought some games out.

"Oh!" cried Maggie. "Brittany, can I see you for a moment?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

The weekend came around fast. Quinn and Rachel were indeed getting into their pinkest dresses like Maggie said. It was 8 o'clock Sunday morning and people would start arriving at 10 o'clock. Rachel screwed up her face, she wasn't really a 'pink dress' sort of person but the dress fit and Maggie wouldn't care just as long as they looked pretty and behaved. Quinn was sitting on her bed rolling on her clear tights. She reached for her pink dress, pulling it over her head. She crossed over to the mirror and stood beside Rachel.

"Well, don't we look delightful!" She giggled. "Do me up will you?"

Rachel smiled and reached for the zipper at the back of the dress. She zipped it but it only went up, three quarters of the way. She tried to force it up but it wouldn't budge.

"We have a problem." she said looking to Quinn.

"What is it?" Quinn frowned.

"You won't zip up..." she told her.

"What?" Quinn cried.

They looked down to Quinn's stomach where slight swelling had started to appear. The blonde cupped her stomach, sighing.

"How many weeks did the doctor say you were?" Rachel asked.

"Nearly eight weeks." Quinn said.

"Have you even thought about telling Maggie?" Rachel asked.

"I want to...I really do, I'm scared." Quinn told her.

Rachel sighed.

"I know, but she's going to find out sooner or later..." she said.

She tried the zipper again but it didn't move.

"I'll go and grab some safety pins and you can throw a little cardigan over it so nobody can see the back." Rachel said.

She moved to go but Quinn grabbed her hand, spinning her round.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry I've dragged you in to all of this, I know I've been less than nice to you these past years..."

"It's nothing really..."

"No it is! I'm pregnant to a boy who isn't my boyfriend and you could have run out and told everyone but you didn't. You helped me, took me to the doctors...and I know you're going to stick by me when this all blows up so, thank you, thank you."

Rachel stood, mouth open, all of this, from Quinn. The blonde looked to her feet.

"It's no problem Quinn, just because we stopped talking, doesn't mean I stopped caring."

Quinn smiled, her eyes shining.

"Thanks."

"So you've said." Rachel laughed, squeezing her hand. "Now, go find a cardigan and I'll get the pins."

She smiled once more before turning and walking out of the room. Quinn took a breath and turned back to the mirror. The baby was growing and she was getting bigger too, she would have to tell Maggie soon before she found out on her own. She would also have to tell Finn, she wondered how that would go...Oh, darling, I'm pregnant and it's not yours, it's your bestfriend's...she looked up in an attempt to stop the tears which were starting to form behind her eyes. She took a breath in and out. Today she needed to think about the kids and their futures. Today wasn't about her, it was about them. She dug into her wardrobe, in the back of her mind though she knew she was just putting off telling Maggie and everyone about the baby. She wanted to but she felt she couldn't, not yet.

xxxxxx

"Puck!"

Puck did a double take, walking backwards passing the kitchen again.

"What?" Jamie was crouched down in front of 4 year old Bebe, trying to braid her dark hair. He looked up, losing the plait.

"Ah man!" he sighed. "Beebs my girl, go find one of the girls to do your hair, it's just not working."

She nodded and skipped past Puck, who ruffled the top of her head, making her hair even more of a mess than it already was. Jamie stood up.

"Go get changed, it's nearly half nine." he told him.

Puck looked at Jamie, who was wearing a shirt and formal trousers, a big change to his normal t-shirts and jeans look. He was only thirty but in all his finery he did not look it.

"Dude, what are you wearing?" Puck smirked.

Jamie folded his arms.

"What you should be, now go!" he said.

"I'll go for jeans but no way am I wearing a shirt...I don't even think I own a shirt." Puck said.

"I ironed you one, it's on your bed." Jamie told him.

"You ironed me one? Can you even iron?" Puck asked.

"I can. Now go on, get changed."

"No way man."

"No way man, what? What are we 'No-waying' at?"

Puck jumped and a second later he felt a hand on his back, he instantly knew who it was and tensed a little.

"He is refusing to change." Jamie said.

Puck shot him a death glare.

"Well, stop refusing and get a move on, I want to see you all smart." Maggie said brightly.

"Okay." Puck said, simply.

Jamie and Maggie exchanged glances.

"Okay?" Jamie asked.

"Yes...well...y'know...help the little ones and all that." Puck stuttered, not quite meeting their eyes, especially not Maggie's.

"Go on then." Maggie said, looking at her watch. "You have fifteen minutes."

Puck nodded and hurried off. When he was gone Jamie turned to Maggie. Although she was getting on in age, she never hid her age and would tell anyone she was 52, she still had a glint in her eye that made her beautiful. She was standing in her black skinny jeans with a light pink shirt and a pair of black heels to top it off. He watched her apply her lipstick in her coffee spoon reflection. She turned suddenly and caught him looking at her.

"What?" she said.

He shook his head smiling.

"Do you think I look okay?" she asked him, feathering out her hair slightly.

"You look lovely." he told her.

She put down her spoon.

"I'm not supposed to look 'lovely' I'm supposed to look professional!" she told him.

He laughed.

"Professional and lovely!" he said.

"Hmm..." She poured milk into her coffee. "Do you want some coffee?" she asked.

"Oh no, you're okay."

She shrugged an okay. They were silent for a while before Jamie spoke again.

"Maggie." He said. "What's with Puck?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"I was nearly begging for him to put on a shirt just then but he wouldn't, then you came in and he went straight away." he told her.

"He knows I mean business." Maggie laughed.

"Hmm..." Jamie said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean 'hmm'..." she said, rolling her eyes.

"He doesn't take orders off anyone...I mean, it's Puck!" Jamie said.

"Jamie, I don't know what you're thinking but just be thankful he went to get changed! And with time to spare!" She laughed.

She picked up her coffee and walked towards the door.

"These heels are doing my head in...give me my sand shoes any day." she muttered.

Jamie twisted his mouth, maybe the boy was just scared he would get another punishment so he was hanging off her every word. That is what he had seemed to do lately. He heard a shriek from the living room and rushed out of the kitchen, forgetting about his train of thought for now.

xxxxxx

Santana ran her fingers through the cutest residents thick black hair. Jamie had apparently failed to tame it so it was now up to her. She didn't mind though, she secretly loved the kids and would do anything for them. Bebe sat in front of her, playing with the hem of her dress, it was navy blue and matched her dark hair perfectly. She had told Santana that she wanted a braid to match the swirly black buttons on the front of the dress. She had decided to do two, one at each side, sure that the girl would love it. They sat happily on Santana's bed but before she could start, Brittany came through the door.

"'ello Brittany." Bebe chirped, dropping her 'H' because that's what Maggie did in her London accent.

Brittany smiled, brightly. Santana smiled back, then noticed her friend was still in her pyjamas.

"Britt, we have like ten minutes or something to be downstairs, why aren't you changed?" She asked.

"I don't know what to wear!" Brittany cried.

"This.."

She held up a short emerald shiny dress that had a black tie around the waist.

"...or this..."

The next one was a rose red dress, with a fitted panel top and a floaty full skirt.

"The red one." Santana said.

"The red one." Bebe repeated.

She smiled before addressing Brittany again.

"Why do you want my opinion anyway? It's not like we have to dress to impress anymore...I mean we're getting a bit old to adopt now..." she said.

"I am dressing to impress though." Brittany told her.

Santana gave her a confused look.

"Who are you impressing? Maggie..? Cos I don't really think she'll care which one, she just wants us in a dress...preferably an appropriate one..."

"My mom."

Santana dropped the piece of hair she had hold of.

"What do you mean your mom?" she asked.

"My birth mom, she got in touch with the carehome, she wants to meet me today, Maggie told me the other day." Brittany said.

Santana looked at her shocked. The blonde was so calm, her real mom was coming. She was about to wish her luck but suddenly stopped when a thought came into her head. What if Brittany's mom was coming to take her...move her in with her. She didn't know if Brittany's mom even lived in the same state. Her heart raced, her mind spinning madly. What if this, what if that...she just didn't want to lose Brittany. Brittany looked at her oddly, so did Bebe, who wasn't getting her hair done.

"San?" Brittany said, gently.

Santana blinked and realised she had rose onto her knees, she sank back down to the bed, crossing her legs.

"Santana..."

"Why didn't you tell me..?"

Brittany hung both of her dresses on the door handle and looked to the little girl on the bed.

"Bebe, go and ask Quinn to do your hair, y'know she does the best braids!" she said the the girl.

Bebe mumbled 'okay' and left them alone, going on the search for Quinn.

When she was gone Brittany sat next to Santana, crossing her legs too.

"I thought you'd be happy for me." she said.

"Why has she come back? She give you up when you were born...why would she care now?" Santana said, a little harshly.

"She's my mom..."

"She's your mother, it takes more than giving birth to someone than it does being a mom."

Brittany frowned.

"I don't know why you're so upset." she said.

"Cos she's coming to take you away!" Santana cried.

"Don't be stupid Santana, she's just coming to get to know me, she can't take me away, even I know that." Brittany said.

"But what if you get to know her and you like her and she asks you to live with her...what then?"

"That's way into the future, she still left me, I'm never going to forget that, she has a lot of making up to do. And she has to like my friends too, she doesn't get the normal privileges of a normal mom."

Santana laughed, feeling some of the panic die down.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Brittany said.

Santana nodded.

"Will you come and meet her with me? I'm a bit scared that she won't like me." Brittany said biting her lip.

"Of course I will. I'm sorry I freaked out, it's your life and I do want what's best for you." Santana said.

"Thanks San, I love you."

"I love you too."

Brittany smiled and jumped up, she held out the red dress.

"So this one?" she said.

Santana nodded and Brittany went off to get changed. She pushed herself off the bed and went over to the dressing table mirror. She applied her cherry flavoured lipgloss and attempted her best smile. She tried to be comforted by Brittany's words and she did know the blonde would never say something she didn't mean. She couldn't help feeling this wouldn't go smoothly, and that could mean she lost Brittany or she would have to pick up the pieces when her mother left her again. When they were little they used to lie in bed and dream of having mommies. Brittany's had always been a farmers wife who would let her pick apples in the orchard. Santana had always wanted a famous mom, a mom who would be the envy of all her friends. Of course they had grown up and over the years lost these expectations. One thing that they has never lost though was the yearning for a mother. Sure they had had female care workers, Maggie being the most like a mom to them but to have a mom of your own, that was the dream. She swallowed hard, Brittany had a chance now to have that dream and Santana was going to make sure that woman was ready for her chance to be that dream. If she wasn't ready to let her pick the apples then Santana was going to make sure she did something. She wanted Brittany to be happy. She needed Brittany to be happy, she loved her.

From the other side of the room Brittany pulled in her matching red sandals, then sprung over to join Santana.

"Ready?" she asked.

Santana nodded, Brittany took her hand and they opened the door. This was going to be fine. Really.

xxxxxxx

Finn sat alone in the living room. It was ten to ten and already people were arriving. Jamie had went out early and put out tables to go along with the gazebo that was already out there. It looked nice, and summery. Which was pushing it really because the summer was nearly over. He liked the summer though was always glad when it became chillier and you knew that winter was on it's way. He could hear some of the kids upstairs hurrying around getting dressed. A small smile appeared on his face when he remembered this time when he was little. He'd dress up all smart and make himself look adoptable. In a way he was glad he had never got adopted, he had his friends around him all the time and they were his family.

"Finn, Maggie's looking for you, time to play doorman." Jamie said, popping his head through the door.

He nodded and stood up, Jamie disappeared but before he could get to follow him, little Bebe wandered in.

"Frankenteen...can you do braids?" she asked, peering up at him.

Frankenteen? The girl had obviously been spending to much time with Santana.

"Can't you ask one of the girls?" he said, needing to go.

Bebe sighed heavily and flopped down onto the couch.

"What?" Finn asked.

"I've asked everyone! Jamie couldn't do it, San couldn't and Britt sent me to find Quinn but she was throwing up in the toilet...I just want my hair done!" she cried, dramatically.

"Quinn's throwing up? What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"She's sad."

"Sad?"

"Yes. Cos nobody can do a braid."

Finn laughed, pulling the little girl onto his lap.

"You remind me a lot of Rachel y'know..." he said.

"I like Rachel, she's been giving me diva lessons." Bebe said.

"Oh has she now?"

Bebe nodded.

"Now can you do a braid or not..?"

Finn laughed and picked up a strand of her thick hair, a braid, how hard can it be?

xxxxxxx

The garden of the home had been transformed, as it always was on the yearly open day. They had set out two tables with green gingham table cloths draped over them for the food and information leaflet. It was a sunny day and the garden had a nice atmosphere as couples looking to adopt came in and talked amongst themselves and to Maggie and Jamie. All the kids were out already, all in their best clothes, all looking clean. They played as the couples looked on, the gooiest looks on their faces.

May was playing skipping rope with Lottie when she decided to go and get them both a cup of lemonade.

"Hello!"

7-year old May looked up, screwing up her face. A tall thin woman with an auburn bob was standing over her, smiling a little to widely. May frowned, looking around, checking if it was actually her that the the strange lady was talking to. There didn't seem to be anyone around so she looked back up.

"Hey..." she said.

The woman's face went into an 'o' shape and she clapped her hands together.

"Howard!" she cried to a short man, who was reading a leaflet Mercedes had just given him. The man looked round and the woman signalled for him to come and join her.

"Look at this little one, isn't she just the cutest?" The woman gushed.

The man, Howard, smiled at her.

"Hi." he said.

May smiled. He seemed less crazy than the woman, she assumed was his wife.

"What's your name, little one?" The woman asked her.

"May." May stated.

"What a lovely name! I'm Vera and this is my husband Howard." she said.

May nodded, unsure what to say next. She looked around and saw Rachel, she remembered what the brunette singer had said to another couple earlier.

"Sooo...are you thinking about adoption?"

The couple laughed.

"Well, you're awfully grown up aren't you!" Howard said.

May pulled a face.

"No...I'm seven, I'm still a kid."

"But you'll be a young lady soon." Vera smiled.

"Not 'til a long time yet, Rachel and Quinn are young ladies and they're way older than me." May explained.

"Oh. And Rachel and Quinn are..?"

May pointed out the two girls, standing in their pink dresses, talking to a couple.

While they were looking away, May took a peek at the leaflet in their hands. It read 'Adoption and you.'. She bit her lip. So they were looking into adoption, she looked back at them, they looked like nice people, crazy sure, but nice. May had never thought about getting adopted, all the other kids were always going on about getting their own mom and dad and dog and house. But she didn't really care for all of that, she loved being in the care home with all the rest of the kids. She had been with Maggie for what felt like the whole of her short life and she would hate to be taken away from her. Everyone loved Maggie but maybe she just loved her that bit more. No, she didn't want to be adopted, she had everything she wanted already. She had plenty of people to play with, she even had the teenagers who absolutely doted on the kids. They were like her sisters and brothers. She had her family and to a bright seven year old it made no sense being taken away from a family. Family. A sudden thought struck her and she quickly looked around, scanning the older ones for a hint of resemblance.

"So May, would you like to come and get some cake with us?" Vera asked, motioning over to the food table. They were trying to get to know her.

"Okay..." She said.

They walked over to the table and May suddenly had an idea, she threw one of her legs behind the other, tripping herself up. She landed on the edge of the patio, hurting her knee. Tears sprung to her eyes as she hadn't actually meant to hurt herself, just pretend to. The couple immediately bent down, trying to help her up and seeing if she was okay. A tear leaked from one of her big blue eyes, her lip beginning to tremble.

"I...I..." she stuttered.

"What moonpie?" Vera said, in a sickly baby voice.

"I want my...sister." she cried.

The woman glanced to her husband.

"Your sister? You have a sister?" Howard said.

He looked to the crowd of little ones.

"Which one is your sister?" he asked.

She lifted up her hand and pointed over at Quinn who was still standing with Rachel talking.

"Oh." the couple said in unison. They didn't want to adopt a 16 year old too.

"I...I'll go get her for you." Howard said standing up from his crouched position next to her.

May hadn't thought about what if one of them had actually gone to get Quinn. What if they found out she had been lying, Quinn wasn't her sister. She looked on as Howard got Quinn's attention and began talking. She saw Quinn's confused expression, then she looked over. Another tear ran down her face as her knee continued to sting. Quinn hurried over after Howard.

"She just tripped over you see. She only wanted her sister."

It looked like Quinn had got that it was her that was supposed to be May's sister. She didn't question it though just put on a smile and scooped the little girl up into her arms.

"Thanks for coming to get me..." She said, as May nuzzled into her neck.

"I'm sure she'll be fine with a plaster and some cream."

The couple smiled and said it was no problem then wondered off. Quinn said nothing as she took the girl into the house. She sat her down on a wooden chair at the kitchen table and pulled out the plaster box. May rolled up her beige trouser leg to reveal a rather large and bloody gash.

"Oo ouch!" Quinn said.

"I didn't really mean to hurt myself." May muttered.

Quinn dug about in the box, pulling out a tub of cream. She looked up at the girl from her crouched position in front of her.

"You didn't mean to hurt yourself? May, did you make yourself fall?" she asked.

The girl nodded, sniffing.

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't want to be adopted so I fell so they would ask who to get for me and I would say my sister and..."

"Wait, is that why they were saying your sister? I thought they were just being cutesy." Quinn said.

"I told them that so they would think I couldn't be separated from you." May explained.

She flinched as the cold cream hit her knee and stung.

"You're one clever little girl." Quinn smiled.

May sighed.

"Why don't you want to be adopted though honey?" she asked, laying a brightly coloured plaster over the wound.

"I already have a family!" She told her. "Right here!"

Quinn sat on a chair next to her.

"But don't you want a real family? With brothers and sisters and a mom and dad?" she asked.

"Quinnie! You and the girls are like big sisters and the boys dote on me. The little kids are like siblings, they play with me! Maggie's been here since I was born, she's the only mom I've ever known. If I'd have to be taken away from all of this, it would be hard and I'd be miserable. Why put me someplace else when I have a perfectly good family here!" May said.

Quinn was stunned. How could you answer that. The girl looked very upset so she decided not to take her back out there.

"Hey, do you want to come up to mine and Rachel's room and look at our make-up? I can put some on you if you want."

May wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and nodded.

xxxxx

"Can you see her yet?" asked Brittany craning her neck to look over the mass of people.

"I don't even know what she looks like Britt." Santana reminded her.

Brittany looked back at her.

"Neither do I."

Santana was shocked.

"You don't know what she looks like?" she said. "Then why are you looking?"

Brittany shrugged.

"I thought maybe if I saw her I'd know who she was." she said, rather sadly.

Santana stroked her arm gently.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon, don't worry." she said.

At least she hoped Brittany's mother would be here soon. The blonde had been a nervous wreck most of the morning, she was nearly jumping off the walls, with nerves and excitement. Santana herself was feeling anxious. She didn't know why this woman had suddenly got in contact, after all the years...she'd missed Brittany growing up. She was trying hard not to hate this woman already but it was difficult, especially as she wasn't here and the opening had started 15 minutes ago. Brittany was up on her toes again looking round. Santana sighed.

"Do you want a drink or something?" she asked her friend.

"Lemonade please!" came her reply.

"Fine."

She left Brittany and headed to one if the food tables. She found some plastic cups, blew the dust out of them and carefully poured her favourite cloudy lemonade into them. She was about to reach for two pink straws she thought Brittany might like when her arm knocked into someone.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay."

Santana turned to look at the woman who had just spoken to her. She had her back to the table, looking around as if looking for somebody. She picked up the cups and turned to the woman.

"Are you looking for someone? Maggie? One of the kids? A leaflet? The annoying short girl over there is handing them out."

The woman smiled.

"I'm looking for someone. I actually tried looking for Maggie but I couldn't find her. I'm wondering If you know a girl...goes by the name of Brittany?" she asked.

Blonde hair, blue eyes. She could tell it was the woman Brittany had been looking for for the best part of the morning. The woman could tell too.

"Oh..."

"So you do know her..." the woman said.

"Yeah...um...do you maybe want to find Maggie first? Before you see her...I don't know what has to happen." Santana stuttered.

The woman frowned, she only looked young, well, certainly not old enough to have a daughter Brittany's age. She looked nice and a little frightened.

Santana had been in a home long enough to be able to tell the sorts of people who put their kids up for adoption. It was easy to tell that Brittany's mom had been young when she had given birth. Perhaps this woman just couldn't cope with having a baby. She knew these things could be true but she also knew that it all could be different. She was going to go careful around this woman, make sure she didn't hurt Brittany. The woman looked nervous so Santana took a little pity on her, besides, she knew how excited Brittany was.

"I can see Maggie's busy." She said, motioning with her head, to the care worker. "So I'll take you to Britts...er...Brittany. But please...be gentle with her, go slow, she's, she's special."

Brittany's mom nodded her head, and whether she was ready or not, Santana led her off to the middle of the garden where Brittany was standing.

"Britt." The blonde girl spun around, smiling at her best friend. She took the drink off her, giggling at the hot pink straw. It only took Santana a moment to realise that the woman had hung back. She looked behind her, giving her a half confused, half comforting look. Brittany sipped her lemonade through her straw, blissfully unaware of what was going on in front of her. The woman watched Brittany drink then when she was done, smile at a child that past. Tears welled up in her eyes and then she suddenly rushed away. Just like that. Santana was definitely confused now, one look at her daughter and she ran off. She sighed, maybe she was getting soft in her teenage years or something, she turned back to Brittany.

"I'll be back soon, okay?" she told her.

Brittany looked up from her drink.

"Okay San, but be back soon, because my mom might get here."

Santana gave her a small smile and turned to follow the runaway mom. She found her throughout the crowds, sitting on the wooden bench next to the garden fence. When she saw Santana coming she scooted up. She put down her lemonade and they sat in silence.

"Y'know, the care worker, Miss Lorre. She showed me a picture of her but she's so much more beautiful in real life."

Santana had to think for a while before she figured out that Miss Lorre was Maggie. She smiled.

"She's beautiful inside too." she said, she blushed, god, where did that come from!

"I'm Alison Pierce." she said.

"Santana."

"I can tell you're close to Brittany." she smiled.

"She's my best friend, we've grown up together." Santana told her.

"Did she have a good life?" Alison asked suddenly.

"Well..."

Santana didn't really know how to answer that. She didn't know any other life so she couldn't compare happiness or sadness. She supposed it was just like growing up in a bigger family.

"She nearly got adopted once, but it fell through. The couple that wanted her were found out to have been growing drugs." she said.

Alison gasped. Santana screwed up her face.

"That was supposed to be a good thing. It sounded good in my head." she said. "I suppose it's just like growing up with all your friends really, sometimes it's hard but that's just life. It's like that in any normal family, things are difficult you get over them. She used to dream about having a mother. We both did. All she wanted was an apple picker as a mom."

This made Alison laugh through her tears, that Santana had just noticed were falling.

"So she never really had a mother figure?" she asked.

"Well...Maggie has been with us for a while, she's really been the one who's picked us up when we fell down, the one who gave us ice cream when we're heart broken over a boy. She's like a mom, but somehow she'll never be our mother. Of course she'll always be the one we call on though, she brought us up."

Alison nodded sadly.

"If you don't mind me asking Alison, how old are you?"

"32."

"Wow. You must have been young when you had Brittany." Santana gasped.

"I was 16, Brittany's age. I found out I was pregnant and I was sent off to my aunts house in England. They said I could keep the baby but I felt I couldn't cope. I gave birth and they put this little bundle, all red, into my arms and I just knew, I knew I couldn't keep her. I was still a kid myself, I couldn't look after another one, on my own. I wasn't even finished school. I got to spend two days with her in the hospital in London, before she got taken away. My baby, taken away. It broke my heart but I knew it was for the best. I got to name her and make sure she had my last name, I thought that, if she were to be adopted that she could maybe use it as a middle name. Funny thing, you know why I called her Brittany? It was because I loved Britney Spears."

Santana laughed.

"It's not spelt that way though." she told her.

"It's not?"

"No. They must have spelt it wrong on the papers or something."

"Oh well. I still like Britney Spears."

"Wait a minute thought." Santana suddenly said. "How did she come about being in America if she was taken into care in England?"

"Well apparently, they knew my family lived in America so they thought it was best, plus I was American. They sent her over to America, I keep thinking that I might not have found her if they hadn't of sent her here." Alison told her.

"I'm glad they did." Santana said, smiling.

"I've never regret giving her away because I think she has had a better life, Miss Lorre told me she's quite popular at school." Alison said.

"She's a cheerleader. We both are." Santana said.

"She is? Wow...I was a cheerleader, before getting pregnant." Alison smiled.

"She's really good, she's the best dancer in the whole squad." Santana said, rather proudly.

Alison caught one of her tears before it hit her chin.

"She sounds so amazing, my baby."

Santana nodded.

"She is. And I believe you've missed so much giving her up." she told her.

Alison sniffed, nodding.

"But you haven't left it to late, she still needs a mother even if only for a couple more years." Santana said.

"I'm going to do my best with her, I still love her so much." Alison said.

"Don't be surprised if she doesn't come to you first if she has a problem, she thinks of Maggie as her 'mom', she'll probably even come to me first."

"Why are you telling me this?" Alison asked her, grasping a tissue in her hand.

"I really care about her and I don't want you to hurt her. I want you to be prepared...Brittany isn't really like other people, she's, naive, in some ways."

Alison could tell Santana was worried, she could tell it in her eyes. Even though she didn't know her daughter or even her friend really that much, she could tell this girl really loved her. She blotted away a bit of run mascara and looked into Santana's dark eyes.

"I promise, I'll never hurt her. This is all new to me, I want to get to know her more than I've ever wanted anything else. And I hope, with your help, I can do that. If things get to hard for her, I'll back off a bit. I just don't want to go another 16 years not knowing what's happening to her. Not knowing if she's happy or not."

Santana felt tears prick behind her eyes. She took a deep breath and tried to shove them away.

"She is happy." she said quietly.

"I could see that, I'm hoping only to add to that happiness."

"Okay." Santana all but whispered.

Alison handed her a tissue from her bag, Santana smiled.

"It's stupid, I don't know why I'm getting upset." she said.

"It's okay, I can tell you love her, very much."

Santana nodded.

"Thank you Santana."

"For what?"

"Helping me. I think I needed to know a bit about her before I actually met my baby again."

The Latina girl picked up her lemonade from the patio, standing up. She looked down at the blonde woman who Santana could now see bore a lot of resemblance to her friend. She looked nervous, excited and also just plain terrified. She looked up at Brittany, clutching her handbag like it was a security blanket.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, I think I am."

Santana smiled, encouragingly.

"Then let's go."

She started walking back to Brittany with Alison following close behind. She had been nervous about this, probably even more than Brittany. She had probably been asking herself the same question Brittany had been asking herself too. What if she didn't like her? What if she used her? What if she broke her heart? What if she left her again? She knew that this was why Brittany hadn't told her sooner, even though the girl denied it. Spending that small amount of time with Alison had helped, she seemed like a pretty trustworthy woman. She hadn't really flinched at her warnings, well, indirect warnings. Santana knew that Brittany would like her, she liked her, she just hoped this would work out for them. She found Brittany and stood back, letting Alison go before her. She watched the woman approach her best friend, though it was going well so far, Santana reminded herself to stay cautious, she had to protect her friend from hurt.

xxxxxx

Rachel looked around the garden. She had been smiling and talking to couple after couple for a good hour and a half and she was fed up. She noticed that Quinn had disappeared after the small man came to her claiming her sister had fallen. She thought she had seen May but she wasn't sure as the next couple wanted her attention.

She felt like an information bank, telling people about the kid that they liked the look of. In someway she felt sorry for the kids. She felt like they were like toys on a shelf, couple after couple choosing which one they wanted. She had tried to think about when she was their age, she couldn't remember ever feeling like she was on sale. But then she didn't suppose these kids felt like that, when she looked at them her heart nearly melted. They talked to couples there eyes so hopeful, there smiles so bright. By all means, she hoped they did get adopted, that was the dream. To have a proper mom and dad, maybe even brothers and sisters. She remembered when she was younger and the kids, some of which were her friends, would be told they wanted to be adopted. She'd smile and wave them off when they left to be with their new family but secretly her heart sank. Why didn't anyone want her? She knew she could be annoying, but only a little, she wasn't a bad little girl...

Sometimes she used to think about her real mom, the mom who gave her to two gay men. Leroy and Hiram had been her daddies but she was her mother. Why hadn't she come and got her when they died? Maybe she hadn't known they'd died, Maggie had told her once that there had been a contract after her birth forbidding her mother to find her until she was eighteen. Did she really not know though? Hadn't she read about the fire? About how her daughter was now an orphan? She sighed as she blinked away tears that were forming. Thinking about her dads always made her like this, she missed them. She noticed a shadow move next to her and snapped her head up.

"Oh, are you okay?" The woman asked.

"Yes, sorry, I'm fine, just got a little something in my eye." She said, taking a deep breath.

"Are you sure? You seem upset? Is there anyone I can get for you?"

Rachel smiled looking at the woman properly. She had long dark brown hair which was curled slightly, highlighting her high cheek bones perfectly. She was strikingly beautiful but it wasn't obvious like some of the blonde bimbos that people seemed to class as beautiful these days. Her lips were full, with just a touch of lipgloss dashed over them. She took Rachel's breath away slightly making the woman smile.

"I'm fine." Rachel managed. "Really. So...are you thinking about adoption?"

The woman laughed, motioning to a leaflet Mercedes had just given her.

"Adoption and you." she said.

Rachel smiled.

"Yeah...I think they dumb it down to make the whole adoption thing more appealing." she said.

"Why, is it not? Appealing?" the woman asked.

"Well...yes...I mean of course...adoption is a good option...of course...very appealing..." Rachel stuttered.

The woman laughed.

"I was kidding! I've done my research, I wouldn't have come if I wasn't sure...if it wasn't appealing." she said.

Rachel let out air, she thought she had really done it there.

"So, are you going to show me around?" the woman said, smiling.

"Of course." They walked around the garden, Rachel pointing to children and telling her names and ages and little quirks each one of them had.

When they done a full round of the garden, they stopped at the drinks table and Rachel poured them both a plastic cup of orange juice. They sipped in silence and Rachel noticed the woman give her a funny look.

"Any...er...questions?" she asked, unsure of the look she was receiving.

"How old are you?" The woman asked her.

"16..."

"And you work here?" The woman looked confused.

"Me?" Rachel laughed. "No, I'm a resident, an orphan."

"You are? How come you know about everything?" she asked.

"Oh, well, I've been here most of my life, you pick up on a lot over the years." Rachel explained.

"Most of your life? I can't imagine how a pretty girl like you hasn't been snapped up." the woman said.

"I can kind of be annoying." Rachel shrugged, she felt a sudden pang of sadness as she remembered her earlier thoughts.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I sing alot."

"You sing? Are you any good?"

"Yes." Well there was no need beating around the bush. "I'm in my school's glee club."

"That's really good." the woman smiled.

Rachel blushed though she wasn't to sure why.

"Thank you." They were silent as Rachel took another sip of her orange juice. The woman looked down at her watch and gasped.

"Oh look at the time!" she said. "I've got to go."

Rachel put down her cup and felt slightly disappointed that the stranger had to go.

"Oh right, well, have a read through the brochure, it has all the information that you'll need, even little bio's on the kids. They're all quite charming though." She said to the woman.

The woman smiled. "I will, thank you."

"Thank you, Mrs...?"

"Miss Corcoran...you can call me Shelby."

Rachel nodded and Miss Corcoran...Shelby, put the leaflet and brochure in her bag, she gave her a little wave and was gone through the gate.

Rachel picked up her cup again and took a sip, she liked Shelby and though she didn't know why, she hoped she would see her again.

"Rachel!"

She spun round to see Finn walking towards her.

"Hey Finn." she smiled.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Okay, I've met loads of people. There are some good couples this year."

Finn nodded.

"Few of the ladies have been hitting on Puck though." he smiled, leaning round her to get a slice of angel cake.

"Really?" Rachel laughed. "Bet he was loving that."

"Hmm...you would think...he's been a bit distant recently." Finn said.

"Why's that?" Rachel asked.

"I dunno..." he looked round the garden. "Have you seen Quinn anywhere?"

"Oh, I think she was with May but I don't know where they went." Rachel told him.

"Is Quinn okay? Bebe told me she was sick today." He said.

"I don't know about that." she lied.

"Oh right."

She took another sip of her orange to hide the awkwardness. She really hatred lying to people but this was Quinn's secret and it wasn't hers to tell.

"So." she said, changing the subject. "Do you think it's looking up for the kids this year?"

Finn looked to the group of kids who had seemed to met and were playing amongst themselves in the corner of the garden.

"I don't know. The kids don't seem very interested." he said.

Rachel laughed.

"Are they ever interested in anything other than cartoons?" she said.

"Good point there Rach." She smiled. He smiled too. They seemed to stand there smiling at each other for what seemed like to them for an eternity.

"Yo! Finchel!"

The trance was broken by a voice. Rachel looked over Finn's shoulder to see Puck standing behind him.

"What's Finchel?"

"It's a mash-up...Finn and Rachel, I'm into mash-ups since glee club." Puck shrugged.

"Nice to see you're taking glee club seriously Noah." Rachel said to him.

"Woah, calm it, I just like mash-ups!" he said, shaking his head. Finn laughed, looking down at his watch.

"Wow, this morning has gone over quickly." They looked around the garden to see that there were only a handful of couples left. Jamie was chatting to one of the couples and Maggie another. They all seemed to be watching Maggie so Rachel spoke.

"Maggie looks very pretty today." she observed, nonchalantly. Finn nodded while Puck breathed.

"Beautiful."

Rachel and Finn exchanged a glance before a second voice rang out.

"Yo my beautiful children!"

Maggie came up behind them, somehow managing to sneak up on them in the second they all looked away. She always seemed to do that...it was rather creepy.

She looked down to her left then back up again.

"Did I just say 'Yo', in an actual sentence? What has become of me? I'm speaking 'teenage'." her jaw dropped, sarcastically. "Oh my god, I'm speaking Puck!"

Rachel and Finn laughed.

"Oh, hah!" Puck said dryly.

Maggie grinned.

"Oh I do love you all." she said.

She put her arms around Puck and Finn. Puck tensed again at her touch, just like this morning. He hoped she wouldn't notice and she didn't seem to as she turned her attention to Rachel.

"Looks like everyone has gone." she said.

It was true, Jamie had showed them all out of the garden and had now turned to the group of kids.

"Should we go help Jamie?" Finn asked. "He's gonna have to get all the kids out of their best clothes."

Maggie looked over to him.

"Nah. He can handle it."

"What are we having for lunch?" Finn asked, his stomach grumbling.

"Well...wouldn't you know!" Maggie smiled.

He moaned, she squeezed his shoulder.

"Go on, go see what the troops want, nothing big though, make a couple of sandwiches, I'm ordering pizza tonight." she said.

"Okay...I'll go now while they're changing, so none of them get under my feet in the kitchen." He said.

"Go on then my little house wife!" Maggie laughed.

Finn narrowed his eyes and mumbled something before shuffling off. There was a shout from the big house.

"I better go and help Jamie." Rachel said. "And find Quinn...she disappeared earlier..."

She wondered off and Maggie dropped her arm from Puck's shoulder.

"Did she say Quinn? Are they friends again?" She asked, confused.

"I don't know."

Maggie shrugged as Puck turned to head back to the house.

"Noah."

"Yes...what?" he asked, turning back.

Maggie lent against the table they had brought out for the morning, she folded her arms across her chest before speaking.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Puck laughed.

"You know, you keep asking me that." he said.

"You know, you never answer me." she said.

"I'm fine." he told her. "Fine."

"Is it about Quinn? What happened at the party?" she asked.

"No...it's not, I'm over the party." he said.

"So it is something?" she pressed.

He sighed.

"It's nothing Mags, really, nothing I can't handle." he said.

She looked worried.

"But you know you can..."

"Come and see you, yes, I know."

"Okay..."

She stood up and set off towards the house, she stopped when she saw he wasn't following her.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

"I'll be in in a bit."

She smiled and continued her walk. Damn she looked good in heels, Puck thought. He mentally screamed, recently he had started thinking about her in these ways. She wore lipstick, he drooled. She let her hair down after a long day, all he did was stare. He'd never thought of an older woman in this way. He wanted her but he could never have her. Why was this happening to him? Why was it that all he wanted to do was go and see her...go into her office just to look at her. When she was around it brought out the best in him, he did what he was told. It also brought out the worst, she looked at him the other day and he went straight to his room and threw some darts, at the wall, cursing himself for thinking this way. He found that his thoughts were straying, straying to her, he'd think about her instead of doing English. He knew what was happening, of course he did. He was falling for her, falling for her hard.

xxxxx

Later that night, after pizza and getting ready for school in the morning, the teenagers bade Jamie and a soon to be going home Maggie goodnight. The little ones were already in bed and though it was earlier than usual the older kids of the home felt like they needed to catch up on some sleep.

Kurt crept under the covers of his bed. Artie was already in bed so he put his alarm on for the morning quietly and lay back. He sighed, looking up at the ceiling, it had been a long day and he had a lot on his mind. His father had dropped a bombshell on him a couple of weeks ago. He shifted onto his side, knowing that sleep wouldn't come easy as the sudden news had hit him hard.

xxxxx

Rachel brushed her hair out. She yawned as she returned her brush to it's draw and jumped over to her bed. Quinn was still in the bathroom so Rachel decided she would leave the lights on and wait. Over the past few weeks she had felt that she and Quinn had really reconnected. The girl needed her and she was more than willing to be there. The door opened and the blonde came in. She got into bed and looked to Rachel.

"I'm going to tell Maggie." she said.

"You are?" Rachel said, stunned, she didn't think she'd do it this soon, despite her constant badgering.

"Yes. I've been thinking about it and I think it's probably best to do it sooner than later."

Rachel nodded.

"That's very sensible Quinn."

"I think it's for the best."

She smiled and Rachel smiled back, shivering slightly.

"Are you cold?" Quinn asked.

"Uh-huh...just a bit."

She folded back her duvet and moved up, making a space. Rachel smiled and hurried the short distance over to Quinn's bed. They turned the light off and Quinn rolled over so Rachel was behind her. Rachel rolled over to as Quinn pulled her hands around her stomach. The brunette could feel a little mound under her hands and smiled into Quinn's hair.

"Good night Rachel." Quinn whispered.

"Good night Quinn." Rachel responded.

They curled up tighter together and were asleep as soon as their tired eyes closed.

xxxx

"So did you like her?"

Brittany smiled, nodding.

"I really did Santana."

"I'm glad."

They were snuggled under their duvets in there facing beds.

"Thanks San."

"What for sweetie?"

"For being there, it really helped me."

Santana smiled.

"You're welcome."

"I've got to go and see Maggie tomorrow to tell her how it went."

"That's good."

Brittany, who had ducked under her sheets to retrieve an odd sock, laughed.

"I suppose it's good..."

Santana didn't say anything.

"Santana?"

She sat up, looking over to her friend.

"San?"

Still no reply. She heard her friends breathing dropping into a gentle rhythm and smiled. Santana had fallen asleep. She flopped back down onto her bed, looking over at her friends figure in the dark.

"Night Santana, I love you."

She closed her eyes as Santana smiled in her sleep.


End file.
